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How stress changes memory — Various perspectives of a human brain are displayed.

How stress changes memoryCEFR A2

17 Dec 2025

Adapted from Yale, Futurity CC BY 4.0

Photo by Aakash Dhage, Unsplash

Level A2 – High beginner / Elementary
2 min
95 words

Researchers gave participants either a hormone pill or a placebo before they looked at pictures in a brain scanner called an fMRI. While people saw each picture, they reported how it made them feel. The next day, the researchers tested memory for the pictures.

Each person did the study twice, once with the hormone and once with the placebo, and the test was double-blind so no one knew which pill was taken. The team looked at quick patterns of brain activity to see which pictures people felt strongly about and which they later remembered.

Difficult words

  • researcherperson who studies and tests ideas
    researchers
  • participantperson who takes part in a study
    participants
  • placebofake pill given for comparison
  • hormonechemical in the body that affects changes
  • double-blindstudy where neither person knows the treatment
  • memoryability to remember things later

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How stress changes memory — English Level A2 | LingVo.club